The Gold Leaf Trail

Revisited Moments from 94 years of New Mexico Magazine

Above: The White Place, an Abiquiú locale that was a favorite of Georgia O'Keeffe's.

October 1938
For nearly eleven months of the year New Mexico’s seasons march along the ordered serenity of cloistered nuns in procession, but in October their progress becomes a “revel of frenzied Bacchantes.” Hills and mountains, tiring of the monotony of summer verdure, deck themselves in glowing, golden raiment. Lower slopes and canyon walls wear rose and flaming red and deep maroon. The skies are lapis lazuli and mountain lakes are ultramarine. Rivers and ritos run with a dancing tempo; even the air is intoxicating. ... October days are too golden to be spent indoors, and the road is calling.